Enhancing outcomes and efficiency in large epidermal cyst management: quality improvement approach in primary care
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Jerjes, Waseem
Ramkumar, Pratik
Yaqub, Yousuf
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background: Epidermal cysts are common benign lesions encountered in primary care, especially in minor surgery clinics. The management of large epidermal cysts (>5 cm in diameter) poses significant challenges, including surgical intervention requirements, potential for complications, and impacts on patient care and clinic workflow. The prevalence of these cysts underlines the need for optimised management strategies that are essential for enhancing patient outcomes and clinic efficiency. This quality improvement initiative sought to better manage large epidermal cysts in primary care settings. Patients and methods: The initiative utilised the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle over three distinct phases, with an emphasis on improving surgical techniques and postoperative care, optimising clinic workflow, and enhancing patient education and involvement. Over the course of this eighteen-month study, 100 patients who required surgical excision of large epidermal cysts were included. The interventions focused on standardising surgical protocols, implementing a new scheduling system, and developing comprehensive educational materials for patients. Results: The programme contributed to major efficiency gains for surgeries: the average operative time was reduced from 45 min to 30. The postoperative complication rate decreased dramatically while patient and clinician satisfaction went up, as did clinic throughput. With patient education enhancements, follow-up adherence rose to 92% while the postoperative complication rate declined from 18% to 9% with the overall approach to patient engagement. Conclusions: The successful application of the PDSA cycles in this work demonstrates that quality improvement methodologies have a potential role in optimising management for large epidermal cysts in primary care settings. Developed interventions can therefore be put into routine care that will indeed improve patient outcome, clinician experience, and operational efficiency in minor surgery clinics.
Date Issued
2024-12-01
Date Acceptance
2024-11-08
Citation
Clinics and Practice, 2024, 14 (6), pp.2433-2444
ISSN
2039-7275
Publisher
MDPI AG
Start Page
2433
End Page
2444
Journal / Book Title
Clinics and Practice
Volume
14
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39585018
PII: clinpract14060190
Subjects
clinical efficiency
General & Internal Medicine
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Medicine, General & Internal
patient engagement
postoperative care
Science & Technology
surgical outcomes
workflow optimisation
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Switzerland
Date Publish Online
2024-11-12